Obama spokesman Michael Ortiz said the senator had "an informative meeting" with Mr. Bernanke about the health of the U.S. economy and the risks of further economic deterioration. Mr. Ortiz said Sen. Obama made clear his respect for the independence of the Federal Reserve system.

In March Sen. Obama proposed broadening government regulation of financial markets and expanding the power of the Federal Reserve to oversee investment banks in certain cases.

His plan would allow the Fed to set capital and liquidity requirements for securities firms that borrow money from the central bank. Currently, the Fed only has such power over commercial banks, but has had some oversight over securities firms after it started lending to them in March.